Two decades ago, a NASA-led team of scientists changed the way we view the universe. With the COBE (Cosmic Background Explorer) project, they showed that the microwave radiation that fills the universe must have come from the Big Bang itself—effectively proving the Big Bang theory, one of the most sensational developments in modern physics. Here Nobel Prize–winning physicist John Mather, one of the project's leaders, and science writer John Boslough offer a candid look at COBE, recounting the discovery of cosmic background radiation in the 1960s and the resulting effort to design, build, and launch the spacecraft. They also reveal the struggles faced by the team, including the unwelcome controversy when one team member breached the project's no-publication policy and stepped into the limelight alone.

"This book is wonderful reading.... Free of the mathematics normally required by modern cosmology, this book focuses on the personal trials and tribulations of the scientists involved and provides the reader with an understanding of Big Science and large scientific enterprises such as NASA.... Hailed by Stephen Hawking as 'the discovery of the century, if not all time,' COBE's measurement of the cosmic background radiation and tiny variations therein confirmed the Big Bang Theory of the origin of the universe."—Library Journal